Surfing is a great sport that has been popular for many years and is rapidly becoming even more popular in the UK. The recent developments in technology is seeing a wider range of choice and price than ever before. So as you can expect choosing a board is just becoming harder. You enter the websites and lots of different categories will appear for surfboards, some may be fish, mini mal, short board, hybrid, long board, swallowtail and maybe even starter short board’s or Gun’s. Choosing the right one may be hard and I fell for the mistake of choosing a 6 ft 4 short board as my first. So I am going to give you a guide on what you can expect in the way of performance and suited ability, weight and wave style. First were going to start of with the classic long board.
The Different Types of Surfboards
Long board
- Wave Size: Small to Medium.
- Fins: Normally one centre fin.
- Ability: Beginners to advanced.
The long board is the longest and normally the widest usually with just one large centre fin. It’s possibly the best for complete beginners as the length, width and buoyancy make it easier to paddle and get up standing. It usually has small middle rocker and lots of nose rocker and a slight tail rocker. These boards are also popular with experienced surfers who want to make a change to their surfing. Walking the board and trying bigger waves may be a fun new way to try your surfing as opposed to a short board or as well as for the more advanced surfers. The turning capability and speed will be reduced when using this board. The typical rider will use in knee to shoulder high waves but advanced surfers will take higher waves on.
Mini mal
- Wave Size: Small to Medium.
- Fins: usually 3.
- Ability: Beginners to advanced.
This is a mini mal and is essentially the recommended board for complete novices and used by surf schools in a foam model usually. This is essentially a smaller version of a long board with lengths normally ranging from 7’4 to 8’0 with slightly more rocker on the middle and upper middle section with tail rocker improved as well. Another changed feature will be the number of fins with the normal number of three. An addition of a traction pad makes for improved grip on the back foot improved when turning. Also the width and buoyancy will have been reduced to allow for a more performance feel. The wave height is usually knee height to shoulder with more advanced surfers taking bigger swell on. The mini mal may have the addition of more technology than the classic long board with more noticeable rails and maybe even channels.
Starter short board
- Wave Size: Small to Medium.
- Fins: usually 3.
- Ability: Beginners to advanced.
This is a starter short board which is the recommended board to advance to when your confidence and skill set has improved. This board will differ to a normal short board in the width and buoyancy. It may also have a greater length and a smaller price tag than a normal short board. This will normally have a three fin set up (a thruster) as this makes for easier turning but also not too slippy on the wave. This board will normally be an epoxy build as the beginner may drop, crash and be a little more accident prone than a more advanced surfer. The board will normally come fitted out with a traction pad to ensure you have the proper back foot grip when starting to turn down the wave. This board may include more rocker on the nose and on the tail with some channels included to help the water get to the fins faster. This board may have models where a nose cap has been fitted as the one in the photo above includes which is going to protect the nose of the board from scratches and being damaged. The wave height is normally waist height to just over head height.
Short board
- Wave Size: Small to Medium.
- Fins: 1-5.
- Ability: Intermediate to advanced.
This is a short board and you can tell at the start by the picture this board is thinner and smaller than the previous styles we have looked at. The buoyancy has been decreased. Paddling and standing up will be extremely hard for beginners. This is not advised for beginners and is a bad mistake if bought as a first board. The fin set up can be anything from a single centre fin to a five fin set up. This board will contain technology that has been through months or more of design and trial so the price for a premium board can be in the lower six figure region. Channels and rails are advanced in some models and will have technology in the building of it that has never been used before. The short boards have lots of variations but wave heights can be from waist height to well over head height. These will normally be made out of fibreglass or fibreglass and epoxy.
Big wave Gun
- Wave size: 30 ft plus.
- Fins: 3-5.
- Advanced.
This is a board that you use when the waves are as tall as houses. The gun is a thin long board that is long so the chop and speed is easier to handle or even handle at all. If you want to surf a wave with a gun you have to have a massive skill set and the guts to match. The boards are very very costly as they have a great deal of skill put into them and are mostly from shapers or top companies such as Channel island. The skill set to use this board is basically pro. You can use this board on smaller waves but is too big so will be difficult. You normally have a 3 fin thruster set up but you can choose to have four or even five fin set ups on these boards.
Fish short board
- Wave Size: Small to Medium.
- Fins: 2-5.
- Ability: Intermediate to advanced.
This is a classic retro fish surfboard which is becoming popular again in the surfing world. These are normally very buoyant, very short and wide boards that are typically two fins but can have up to four or five. The rocker on the nose of the board is normally big and also at the tail. This board can be used for intermediate riders as the buoyancy and width make it fairly easy to stand up on compared to short board, it is common now to have retail versions of this style with a few modern features and some which have a bit of added length and reduced width. These boards will cost lots from a shaper but no more than a good retail short board and can be picked up cheap second hand. These boards are designed for small waves but are easily ridden to a larger wave up to just above head height. The purpose of the fish tail shape is to catch swell on the tail and help to boost you on to the wave which is needed sometimes in most of the UK, the larger surface area is more useful as the water can push it better than a pintail as the pintail has less of a surface area to push on.
Swallow tail short board
- Wave Size: Small to Medium.
- Fins: 2-5.
- Ability: Intermediate to advanced.
This is a swallow tail short board and is very similar to the fish tail surfboard as the width, length and buoyancy is very similar to the retro fish and both modern versions are similar. The fins are normally two but fin numbers can range up to four or five. The swallow tail is there to catch even more swell than the fish so is great for catching even the smallest of waves which is around knee height. The board is less common than the fish and is a similar price.
Wooden layer
- Wave Size: Small to Medium.
- Fins: None.
- Ability: advanced.
This is a wooden layer and is normally used for really advanced surfers who want to make a change and try something new as it’s very unstable and fin less. This is actually designed for surfing on your belly but is now used by some pro riders and advanced surfers. This is designed for small waves and will not cope with anything above shoulder height. These can be picked up online and from some surf shops and the occasional shapers shop.
Summer short board
- Wave Size: Small to Medium.
- Fins: 3-5.
- Ability: Intermediate to advanced.
These two surfboards are on the right a fire wire potatonator and a mini Simmons, they are both designed for small summer waves and are both tiny. They are both good examples of either side of the summer wave designs. The fire wire looks like a normal short board just smaller and fatter with normally a five of four fin set up. Then we have a mini Simmons which looks like a tiny fat mini mal with four fins. These are grippy and buoyant and capable of catching ripples of waves. They are fairly expensive as they take a lot of skill to make and technology in the retail boards is high. The rider is normally advanced with these boards as the board is so small and is designed for tearing up little waves and having fun, but the skill set needs to be high for this.
Fins
There are loads of different styles of fins. I am going to give you the basic idea of what you might need. On the fin packs there will be either an XS, S, M, L, XL the basic guide is the more you weigh the bigger size fin you get, this is because the more you weigh the more it takes to turn so a bigger surface area in the water turning will help you turn better. Each company will have a different size guide.
Surfboard for the UK?
The best style for all of England, Wales, Eastern Scotland is definitely mini mal, long board or fish tail/swallow tail as we just don’t have the power in the waves. Using these styles in my opinion is the best as you can catch the waves a lot faster and easier. However Ireland, West Cornwall, North Devon and North West Scotland can use whatever board they like as the waves are coming straight from the USA and have great power as they have travelled so far and been through so many storms (especially in the winter). When the waves get big in the open spots you may need a big wave Gun to cope with the massive wave coming from the big American storms.
Leashes
With leashes they are not too expensive. For £20 you can get the same leash as what a pro is using but if you don’t have the cash to spend you can get a good leash for a couple quid. With the leashes you can choose whatever size you want as it’s all about what length you actually want. The recommended length for starters is a foot longer than your board and the more experienced 6 inches longer than your board. The big waves are a different story as the bigger the wave the bigger the leash.
Traction pads
The traction pads are used for making turning easier and able to turn when you are going fast. You can get traction pads where the size has already been selected or you can get models where the pad is in 3 parts and you have to draw on the surfboard with a pencil the size you will need then stick the pad on. To put a pad on you have to peel the underside off then place carefully where you want it. You have to be very careful when putting it on as they are incredibly sticky. Also in the shops you can ask the member of staff to get the product out of the bag and see if your bare foot feels comfortable on it because if you’re not comfortable you will not have as good of a time. There are many designs out there so decide what style you like then look for it in a design you like as if you don’t like the look then you may end up just buying another. When removing don’t be scared when it takes forever to do it as they are incredibly sticky as I have already said.
What is rocker?
Rocker is the curve in the board, for example a board with no rocker would be strait and a board with lots of rocker will be very curved and the board will go over chop much better than a board with out rocker. The board also turns better with more rocker and will have more performance. Why not check out our surf section on our website Written By Will Ure